The invention relates to a basketball goal assembly which will give or breakaway in response to a given threshold force on the rim such as a slam dunk.
A need has arisen for a breakaway basketball goal in order to protect the player by absorbing energy in order to reduce wrist, hand and arm injuries. There is a further need to protect the backboard to which the rim is mounted from breaking or shattering, especially in the case of fiberglass backboards.
In one type of known breakaway basketball goal, a pivot point is provided at the back edge of the rim assembly in the horizontal plane of the rim. A rocker arm assembly extends downwardly and rearwardly into a hydraulic cylinder or shock absorber at an angle which permits downward pivoting of the rim in response to a certain force collapsing or retracting the cylinder or shock absorber.
In another type of breakaway goal, a hinge point is provided with a fastener, and a sheer pin which breaks when the goal is overloaded, after which a new sheer pin is inserted in order to resume play.
The present invention provides a simple and effective breakaway basketball goal with releasable mounting structure. The rim is automatically returned, without manual intervention, upon removal of the overload force. User adjustable control means varies the threshold overload force for breakaway. A protective pinch gap shroud is provided covering a gap between mounting plates when the rim is released, to prevent a player from pinching his fingers in such gap. The shroud also extends between the mounting plate and the backboard to dampen oil canning. The mounting plate has a universal aperture mounting configuration.